St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-12-01
WEIR IN MINNEAPOLIS.
The Famous Belfast Spider Now in the
Flour City.
HE IS NOT MUCH DAZZLED.
Something About His Wonderful Record,
His Appearance and Con-
versation.

A Young man with sad expression
and an apparent predisposition to con-
sumption climbed down from the Chi
eagO express which arrived at Minneap-
oils at 80 o'clock yesterday afternoon.
1t was Isaac O'Neil Weir, 1.-The Belfast
Spider" There was a crowd on the
platform, which embraced half-dOzen
sporting reporters of as many news
papers. and a number of local pugillStS,
Including John Donaldson and Patsy
Cardiff. Weir almost Immediately re-
cogniZed Donaldson, and after shaking
hands all round, queried, "Well, hOw's
the champ" referring to Warren, OF
course. When Informed that Tommy
was at La Crosse and had been in train-
ing for two weeks. he gave acontemptu-
Gus laugh. Il don't have to train, he
remarked with confident air. Weir
was escorted to the sporting
headquarters of Donaldson & Cardiff,
where hiS1first break was to make
clatter at the grand piano which stood
upon a platform. He ground out
'.Wearing of the Green" in very credit
able stvle. and followed with Garry
Owen" and 'St. Patrick's Day in the
Morning. When it was known that
the celebrated Spider was the per-
former a crowd of over hundred peO-
pie flOcked into the place and CAPPED at
him.
Come, Weir, and tell the newspaper
boys something about yourself" said
Donaldson.
"An right" responded the phenome-
non. What do you want to know"
'ROw many fights have you WOMB
"All | ever went into. | consider
that | have won tWenty-One battles, and
they were all hard 'uns, too. L didn't
count 'knock-OutS' with nO-accOunt peO-
pie. Before l left England in
1885 l won i'll a cOmpeti-
ton in which l defeated George
Pallen. George Stewart and Bill Par
ton. Who have | met in this country?
Well. a whole lot of hard-fsted boys. l
knocked out Jimmy Furry and John
Aaron in five rounds each: then Johnnie
Farrell with skin gloves in seven rounds
at New York; next Arnold Rand for the
international championship belt at BOS-
ton: next defeated Jack Williams in
thirty-SiX rounds; then George Badger,
at Fall River. i'll one rOund-he was an
easy one: Willie Clark lasted twenty
six rounds, but finally defeated him.
Then came my fight with Jack Havelin,
which lasted SiXty-fOur rOnndS. taking
up four hours and seven minutes. My
hands got bunged up badly and l could
not knock him out, so a draw resulted.
] have never seen Warren, but | under
stand he is clever and is general, but
I'll do him just the same
And the Spider" drew himself up in
defiant attitude. In height he is not a
giant, but he measures five feet five and
One-eighth inches, which is good stature
for a feather weight. He appears al
most dudish, carries buck-hOrn cane,
and wears kid gloves, and is the last
man to be singled out in crowd as a
pugilist. He is evidently somewhat
superstitiouS, and seemingly regards
himself as man of destiny, for he said
almost with a shiveT. Here's a funny
thing about me, Twelve months to a
day from the time L sailed from Liverpool
won the feather-weight belt at Boston,
and exactly twelve months from the day
of my arrival in Boston beSted Rand. ="
Donaldson, who represents Weir, has
made arrangements to have him train at
DuplesSis' gymnasium, and he will
begin work to-day. Last night he was
a spectator at a cooking main, as guest
of st. Paul sporting man of prOmi-